Birthdays and Wisdom

I had a birthday last week. Not sure if it’s true or not that wisdom comes with age, but maybe I’m a little wiser than I was when I was younger. Either way, I did get a year older, and given the alternative, I guess I’ll keep having birthdays as long as I can and hope that I’m not too old to still gain a little wisdom along the way.

I guess I should give Facebook credit for one of the things it does well, which is remind people of birthdays. (On the negative side, of course, we get spying, targeted ads, and obvious political bias.) But on the good side, we do get the chance to easily share the important birthdays and anniversaries of our friends and relatives, many of which we would otherwise miss. Last week, I even discovered that two friends share my birthday! Or birthdate, to be more accurate.

Anyway, for the wisdom part of my sermon of the day, I’ll share a great story from the Bible. In the first chapter of 2 Chronicles , Solomon gets the most fantastic offer you could ever imagine. God appears to him and tells him to ask for anything he wants. Wow! What an amazing opportunity.

Taking a step back to provide a little context, his father David has died and Solomon has been anointed King of Israel. So, yes, he did already have some power and authority and probably considerable wealth, but still – when the God of the universe says “anything” you want? I think in all honesty, many of us would immediately start asking for all those material things that we dream about in our spare time.

Instead,  Solomon tells God he wishes to have wisdom and knowledge so that he can be an effective leader to his people. (He must have possessed some wisdom already as well, for his answer shows a keen insight.) I think even God is impressed. He mentions all those things Solomon could have asked for such as wealth, possessions, honor, the death of his enemies, or even long life. And because he didn’t ask for these things, God tells him he will give him the wisdom and knowledge he requested, and also the things he didn’t ask for - wealth, possessions, and honor greater than any king before or after him. Pretty nice reward!

And what exactly is wisdom? The Cambridge English Dictionary defines it as “the ability to use your knowledge and experience to make good decisions and judgments.”

So, even though I got some nice birthday gifts this year (and in years past), my prayer is always  one of thanks for family, friends, health, and happiness, and a request for maybe a small helping of wisdom and knowledge. Couldn’t we all use a little more of that?